1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bathroom storage accessories, and more particularly, to a storage carousel for multiple electric toothbrushes.
2. Description of the Background
The ordinary toothbrush has become a specialty item and there are now many different toothbrush configurations and designs geared toward different markets, such as children, senior citizens, etc. Conventional toothbrush holders, prevalent in many homes, are not able to accommodate the wide variety of new and changing designs.
Traditional toothbrush holders are either standalone (on the sink) or wall mounted. They include a container/base topped by a cover that has a plurality of apertures for insertion of the toothbrushes.
There are prior art holders that try to accommodate different toothbrushes, such as Menard U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,259 (1995). With this wall mount holder the toothbrush is directed into an L-shaped slot. This design holds a variety of toothbrushes securely. However, it is strictly for manual toothbrushes.
The first electric toothbrush was introduced by Squibb Pharmaceutical at the centennial of the American Dental Association in 1960. This was a rotation-type electric toothbrush, and despite studies that showed it marginally out-performed manual brushing, removing around 7% more plaque and leading to 17% less gum disease than manual brushes, there was a limited market due to the high cost.
A new generation of electric toothbrush, the sonic toothbrush, claims to have even greater cleaning potential. One popular brand of sonic toothbrush is the Sonicare manufactured by Philips. The Sonic Toothbrush was invented in 1983, and the brush head is capable of creating in excess of 30,000 brush strokes per minute. At this intense speed that the bristles vibrate, a secondary cleaning action occurs. It is able to provide energy to the liquids that surround the teeth.
Lately, the cost of these toothbrushes as well as their consumer appeal has increased dramatically. The major manufacturers are now able to produce an array of electric toothbrush models having differentiated housings, some for men, some for women, others having molded character housings for children, etc. All generally have an elongated neck leading to a head, and a pronounced body for containment of batteries or battery packs. ,None of the conventional toothbrush holders are adapted for the general footprint of electric toothbrushes, let alone the myriad variations, or a combination of electric and conventional toothbrush holders as described above. It is now common for a typical family to have seven or eight electric toothbrushes cluttering up their bathroom. After usage, electric toothbrushes are typically left upright or laid flat on the countertop surface. Such makeshift storage only adds to the veritable mountain of clutter that already occupies most limited bathroom counter space in most households, along with other items such as hair brushes, deodorants, toiletries and cosmetics. Moreover, the makeshift storage of electric toothbrushes usually results in water and toothpaste residue leaching out around the sink area. This leaves an unsanitary mess. The hodge podge of articles increases the risk of cross contamination between these items.
What is needed is a carousel holder that will accommodate any one or more from among the current variety of electric toothbrushes, with ample ability to accommodate the ever changing and evolving designs of electric toothbrushes, plus the capacity to store standard manual toothbrushes, and to hold them all in a secure, sanitary and easily accessible manner that is easy to use and keep clean. Such a holder would accommodate a plurality of electric as well as manual toothbrushes, would allow them to drain and runoff the drainage, thereby preventing toothpaste or water residue on counter tops.